Weekend Trading

Contents

Weekend trading with binary options allows traders to trade seven days a week. With forex markets trading hours spanning around the clock for 6 days a week, and certain markets and indices open across Saturday and Sunday – there are plenty of opportunities. This article explains the details of weekend trading and how you can succeed in trading online at the weekend.

This article explores :

  • Trading On The Weekend – Benefits And Drawbacks
  • Why Trade At Weekends – Available Markets And Assets
  • Weekend Strategy – Specific Strategies And 3 Top Tips

With this information, you will be able to succeed at weekend trading with binary options.

weekend trading around the globe

Trading On The Weekend

While much of the market is in bed on Saturday morning, some are up bright and early to begin weekend day trading. From forex and futures to stocks and cryptocurrency, many are simply sleeping and drinking their way through two days of potential profits. So, this page will examine both the advantages and disadvantages of day trading over the weekend, before covering strategies, trading hours, plus top tips.

Benefits

Firstly, why should you swap a relaxing day out for trading online over the weekend? Perhaps for any of the following reasons:

  • Profit potential – You have two extra days to trade during the weekend. That’s two additional days to generate more earnings. If you’ve not had such a good week, the weekend gives you an opportunity to rectify your account balance.
  • Time – Trading on the weekend allows you to trade multiple currency pairs, for example, and still have plenty of time to evaluate each trade. On top of that, you don’t have to rush decisions, whereas in the week you may desperately be trying to get in and out of the market at certain price points.
  • Strategies – During the weekend when the markets are on pause, you have the time to develop more complex trading strategies. In addition, some trading plans will perform better on the weekend. For example, the Asian markets often behave differently to Western markets on Saturday and Sunday. As a result, certain strategies could generate greater profits at the weekend vs in the week.
  • Undivided attention – Understandably, many people work throughout the week. Therefore, finding the time to concentrate on trading too can be a challenge. This is why weekend trading gives you a fantastic opportunity to focus solely on your trade activity. On top of that, fewer distractions could result in enhanced trade decisions.
  • Preparation – Weekend trading can be more than just entering and exiting positions. While most of the markets take a breath, you can conduct in-depth technical analysis. As a result, you could hone your strategy and be better prepared by the time the opening bell rings on Monday morning.

Drawbacks

Despite the number of benefits, there are also certain downsides to day trading at the weekend:

  • Reduced options – There are fewer instruments available for trading at the weekends. Many stocks, in particular, will be unavailable. However, currency weekend trading is readily available as the markets run 24/7.
  • Weekend bias – There is also a danger of carrying a weekend bias with you into Monday. For example, you may have tweaked your trading plan or be desperate to make up for a loss. If you’re not careful, this can result in an unprofitable Monday.
  • Reduced volume – Despite forex, oil and gold trading still being available at the weekend, the low trading volume can lead to problems, such as a reduced ability to validate price shifts. Furthermore, a lack of volume can lead to flat markets and unhelpful charts.
  • Limited brokers – Many brokers do not offer trading over the weekend. They feel there simply isn’t the volume or interest to make it worth their while. So, if you’re committed to a specific broker, you may be unable to trade unless you go elsewhere. Fortunately, IQ Option, 24option, FXCM, and Nadex all facilitate weekend day trading.
  • Trading hours – Weekend day trading may not suit your body clock. Middle Eastern markets, for example, are often active over the weekend. This means if you’re based in the West, you may have to be prepared to trade during anti-social hours.
  • Liquidity – Without money managers to take the other side of trades, markets are often less liquid. Reduced liquidity can then lead to an increase in volatility. The result of which is wider spreads between bid and ask. This can make generating profits even more challenging. Having said that, high levels of volatility can also mean enhanced profit potential.

Leading Weekend Brokers

Brokers are filtered based on your location (United States). Reload this page with location filtering off

Why Trade At Weekends?

Trading Stocks And Indices

Many of the traditional instruments and markets you trade in during the week will be off the cards at the weekend. For example, the NASDAQ and other US stock exchanges are closed from Friday 16:00 to Monday 09:30. However, the Middle East has weekdays running from Sunday to Thursday and Saturday to Wednesday.

In addition, brokers and platforms in the currency and CFD markets are offering seven day trading weeks and a range of local stocks and indices. Some of the indices which will provide the most volume for day trading in the weekends are:

  • Tadawul Index – The Saudi Arabian index represents the largest economy in the region. As a result, this is the most popular index found amongst brokers offering weekend trading.
  • Tel Aviv 25 – Also known as the TA25, it is formed of the 25 largest Israeli companies. Those interested in the IT and pharmaceutical industries could be well suited.
  • DFM Index – Some of the most significant players in the United Arab Emirates can be found here.
  • Kuwait Stock Exchange – The Kuwait economy is diverse. Therefore, this stock exchange hosts companies from the financial, insurance, and real estate sectors.

Now that Saudi Arabia has moved its workweek to align with neighbours, foreign traders now have better access than ever before. As they continue moving towards full access, liquidity will increase and weekend traders will benefit from greater profit potential.

The growth in traders operating at the weekend has not gone unnoticed by brokers however. Some now offer trading on markets that are traditionally closed. IG for example, now offer access to the FTSE and DAX indices, as well as Wall Street, over the weekend. The rules around stop losses etc change slightly (week day trades are unaffected by anything that happens over the weekend for example). The move illustrates the growing amount of business done over the weekend – driven in a large part, by Cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ripple which are not restricted by market hours.

Opportunities for weekend trading are only likely to increase as trader activity and trading volume grow.

Cryptocurrencies & Binary Options

Weekend trading in cryptocurrencies and options is also on the rise. Bitcoin and Litecoin are just two popular digital currencies that have binary options offered for them. Because they are predominantly an Internet creation, they can be effectively traded 24/7.

In the week the major currencies receive the majority of the attention. But by late Friday trading volume in cryptocurrency options begins to surge.

On top of that, some binary options brokers provide specific weekend options that start on Friday at the end of US trading and last until Europe’s opening on Monday morning. These options have even been carefully engineered to cover weekend events, including economic data releases from China and G-7 meetings.

Weekend Strategy

The first thing to note is yes, the weekends do effect trading strategies. Major market players are offline, leading to unusual dynamics over the weekend. As a result, volatility can spike and volume can diminish.

Fortunately, however, there are strategies that have been specifically developed for trading on the weekends. Below one of the most effective and straightforward to set up has been detailed.

Trading the Weekend Gap

Gaps are simply price jumps. Something causes the price to shift either up or down while skipping the levels in between. Usually, gaps are a result of beginning new movements or accelerating movements. However, these gaps require significant trading volume. But due to major market participants being out of the game on the weekend, you don’t normally see these type of gaps. Instead, weekend trading focuses on closing gaps.

Gaps can close when just a few traders create them. For example, several people may invest in the same direction, whether it’s by accident or not. As a result, the market will rise or fall. Most traders will then be unsure what is going on. Often they end up thinking the price has gone too high or too low. So, they try to profit from the apparent mistake by trading in the opposite direction.

  • Upwards gap – An upwards gap will see traders sell their securities. The market will then drop and the gap should close.
  • Downwards gap – In a downwards gap, traders will buy, the market will rise and again the gap will be closed.

Gaps often close in low-volume markets, such as the weekends. This makes weekend gap trading an ideal strategy.

Strategy Implementation

Armed with the knowledge the gap will close, you can now capitalise on market conditions. This is because you also know several key bits of information. Firstly, you have your price target, because the market will move until the price hits the level of the initial candlestick that makes up the gap. If an upwards gap, it will sink to the high of your first candlestick.

You also know the expiry. This is because you know the market is poised to hit the target price within the next period. Therefore, you can use a high/low option. Alternatively, a one-touch option may increase your returns further.

Also note, ensure you use an option with a price target inside the gap, plus an expiry shorter than a single period.

This is often thought of as a forex weekend gap trading strategy. But in actual fact, this technique can be used with both options and commodities too.

Finally, you may be able to increase your takings by exploring weekend gap trading with expert advisors (EA). Following pre-determined criteria, these algorithms allow you to execute far more trades than you ever could manually.

How Else Can You Capitalise on the Weekends?

If you’ve had a long trading week and you want a break from actually entering and exiting positions, there is a whole host of useful activities you can pursue on the weekends. Some of the best uses of time include:

  • Back-testing – Using historical price data, you can simulate previous market environments to test a potential strategy. This is the perfect way to identify and remedy any problems before you put your plan into action on Monday morning.
  • Performance analysis – Getting a moment to reflect in the middle of a busy trading week is often challenging to say the least. That’s why the weekends are a perfect time to sit down and go through your trade journal and recent performance. Where did you go wrong this week? What changes do you need to make to your current strategy? Did you let emotions drive your decision-making process?
  • Risk adjustments – By conducting performance analysis, you can decide whether adjusting your risk parameters is sensible. For example, if your strategy is generating more consistent profits, perhaps you can increase your risk tolerance and position size.
  • Future planning – Weekend trading can also consist of planning for the upcoming week. For example, is there any events coming up in your economic calendar that may impact share trading? If so, have a plan in place to capitalise on the price fluctuations they will trigger. As Benjamin Franklin asserted, “by failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail”.
  • Education – Weekend day trading can also consist of immersing yourself in educational resources. There are now courses, webinars, books, ebooks, podcasts, as well as a host of useful websites available. All can be used to learn about a new strategy or build on your market knowledge.

3 Top Tips for Weekend Trading

Whether you’re interested in currency, stocks or futures weekend trading, there are a number of useful tips that can help you avoid pitfalls and potentially increase profits. These include:

1. Check Spreads
Because spreads often widen as a result of reduced trading volume and liquidity, finding a competitive broker is even more important. In fact, spreads can be particularly large at the close and open of trading on weekends, due to low liquidity. So, look for broker’s offering competitive spreads at weekends.

2. Tackling Slippage
Low liquidity and the possibility of gaps during weekend trading can lead to slippage. To combat this problem, use market range or maximum deviation features available on certain platforms, such as MetaTrader.

These features enable you to decide on a maximum potential slippage that you are willing to concede. Set it to zero, for example, and you won’t have to suffer any slippage.

3. Utilise the News
Weekend day trading brings with it unusual trading behaviour. Much of the volatility and activity will be driven by news announcements. So, stay up to date with any news events relevant to your market. Financial Juice, CNBC, and Yahoo Finance are all sensible sources.

Bottom Line

Although often overlooked, there remain plenty of opportunities for those looking to start day trading at the weekends. Forex and binary options are both accessible from Friday evening to Monday Morning. In addition, markets in the Middle East offer the volatility and volume needed to generate earnings.

However, you will need to amend your normal strategy or employ a weekend-specific plan. Alternatively, if you don’t want to actually trade, you can use the weekends to further your trade education and prepare for the upcoming week. There are courses available, plus all of the resources outlined above.